Why do we call it soccer?

We in the U.S., of course, would disagree. And now we have a clearer understanding of why. In May, Stefan Szymanski, a sports economist at the University of Michigan, published a paper debunking the notion that "soccer" is a semantically bizarre American invention. read more

Around the world, the F.A.'s version of the game continued to be called association football to distinguish it from the rest. In the 1880s, popular British slang took the soc from association and turned it into soccer. read more

A recent paper by University of Michigan professor Stefan Szymanski says the Brits are partly to blame. read more